Provision for Rest.
The first necessity in our fight against fatigue is to eliminate the causes of unnecessary fatigue. The second is to provide for proper rest to overcome fatigue, whether necessary or unnecessary.
If the worker goes home too tired each night, the first method of remedying this condition is to provide rest periods during the working day—to set aside time in which he may recover his proper and normal working strength. One method by which this may be sometimes done is by shortening the working day. This permits the worker to get into better condition either before work, after work, during a lengthened noon hour, or during the “second breakfast” and “tea recess” of many European organizations. The supposed advantage of this plan is that it gives little or no jolt to the working process. To this we might answer, as circumstances vary, that it does give a jolt, because speed must be increased in order that output should be maintained; or we might say that the jolt is really needed. The disadvantage, in some cases, of shortening the working hours is the effect upon the entire industry in the vicinity. This is a feature to be considered, for in the long run maximum prosperity is dependent upon largest outputs. There can be no doubt that in most cases it is advisable and profitable to shorten working hours, but how and when this is to be done is a serious problem. In our own office, our stenographers work every other Saturday till 1:00 P.M. only, and the alternating Saturday they do not work at all; that is to say, we give them a holiday of Saturday afternoon and Sunday every other week, and all Saturday and Sunday the other weeks, besides their regular two-weeks vacation in summer. We find that we get more and better work as a result. No plant, operating under the measured type of management, that we know of, has ever regretted shortening its working hours. It may be that the working hours formerly existing were so long that shortening the hours was the only immediate adequate remedy. The danger in shortening hours is that, if the whole problem is not thoroughly studied, the worker may not be sure of the same or a larger wage for work which he is able to do in the shorter time. Fatigue elimination is fundamentally the duty of the management. The worker cannot afford to pay for the fatigue elimination, directly or indirectly. Let the short hours be planned for and assured, but make sure before introducing them that everything is in such condition that wages can be maintained or raised. This is a matter requiring study of actual records and not “guess,” “personal opinion,” or “judgment.”
There are other methods of providing for fatigue elimination or recovery, that do not involve so many elements. Such a method is providing rest periods during the working day. This is a method that may be used immediately. To whom are these rest periods to be given, then? Ultimately, of course, to every member of the organization whose work is of a nature that requires a fixed rest period. The work should, preferably, be so arranged that every worker, be he in plant or in management, would achieve larger outputs by having definite and properly located rest periods. It has been proved in most work that more output can be achieved by applying one’s self steadily for short periods, and then resting, than by applying one’s self less steadily and having no rest periods. This, of course, applies only to work which in itself provides no rest periods. At the beginning of the fatigue eliminating campaign, provide rest periods for those who seem to need them most. There are two, off-hand, quick methods of determining which workers these are. One is the appearance of the workers at various times of the day, and at the end of the day. The other is the amount of output and the rate that output is turned out by the worker during the day and during the various parts of the day. In some organizations, it has been the standard practice to take no chances when the worker looks or feels tired. They provide rest periods immediately, long enough to allow him to recover and go back to the work with zest. This is, of course, the immediate remedy. “Provide the rest period first. Discuss its efficiency later.” This first-aid plan has worked splendidly for a long time among women workers in such industries as the drygoods trades. The typical welfare work may be unscientific from the standpoint of those familiar with highly organized methods, but it has sensed the trouble keenly and quickly, and provided at least a temporary remedy without delay. “Time to rest when one needs it.” This is the first slogan of the campaign for eliminating the evils of overfatigue.